Iran
Iran disconnected several of its main Persian Gulf oil terminals from the Internet on Monday, local news media reported, as technicians were struggling to contain what they said were intensifying cyberattacks on the Oil Ministry and its affiliates. – New York Times
Tehran’s efforts to expand its circle of influence in South America is tantamount to exporting state-sponsored terrorism into the region, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said. – DEFCON Hill
Claims that Iran has been able to crack the classified technologies aboard a captured U.S. surveillance drone and glean sensitive information on American intelligence operations are likely untrue. – DEFCON Hill
New comments from a leading Iranian religious figure offer further indications that the nation might be prepared to offer greater flexibility in negotiating a resolution to concerns over its controversial nuclear program – Global Security Newswire
Iran is optimistic that talks in Baghdad next month will make progress toward resolving its nuclear dispute with world powers, Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi said on Monday. – Reuters
Iran has been forced to deploy more than half its fleet of supertankers to store oil at anchorage in the Gulf as buyers of its crude cut back because of sanctions, two Iran-based shipping sources said. – Reuters
Indian shipping firms will continue to transport Iranian crude even if limited insurance coverage due to tightening Western sanctions leaves them financially exposed to a spill or accident, a top executive and industry sources said. – Reuters
Public support for the hawkish position is not so strong or resolute as to force 44′s hand. But it might be strong enough to allow a president who has repeatedly said that letting Iran develop a nuclear arsenal is unacceptable to take decisive action to launch military strikes to prevent that, if he believes it necessary. – Shadow Government
Syria
Syrian government forces engaged in an extended game of cat and mouse against United Nations observers on Monday, attacking cities like Hama after the monitors left and adopting a low profile as the monitors visited the Damascus suburbs – New York Times
The United States and European Union slapped Syria with additional sanctions Monday, as international pressure and a United Nations-backed peace plan have failed to quell the violence in a 13-month uprising. – Los Angeles Times
The United Nations said on Tuesday that it aimed to deliver food assistance to 500,000 people in Syria “in the coming weeks”, roughly double the number it expects to reach in April. – Reuters
Josh Rogin reports: In a speech introducing U.S. President Barack Obama today, Nobel Peace Laureate and Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel called on the world to learn the lessons of the Holocaust and prevent Syrian President Bashar al-Assad from committing atrocities against civilians. – The Cable
Egypt
One month before Egyptians begin voting for their first president after Hosni Mubarak, Mr. Morsi’s record is escalating a campaign battle here over the place of Islam in the new democracies promised by the Arab Spring revolts. – New York Times
An Egyptian ministry has rejected the applications for registration of eight American nonprofit groups, state media reported, in the government’s first action on the status of foreign-backed nonprofit groups since its criminal prosecution of three American-backed organizations set off a crisis in relations with Washington this year. – New York Times
Interpol’s headquarters on Monday refused a request by Egypt’s authorities to issue worldwide notices for the arrest of 15 nongovernmental workers—12 of them Americans—accused of illegally operating pro-democracy programs and stirring unrest. – National Journal
Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula has turned into a “kind of Wild West” exploited by Islamist militants with Iranian help to smuggle in weapons and stage attacks on Israel, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Tuesday. – Reuters
Bahrain
A Bahraini protester found dead on a rooftop after clashes with police during the Formula One Grand Prix at the weekend was apparently killed by birdshot rounds and his body bore several bruises, his brother said on Monday. – Reuters
Emile Nakleh writes: Moving the US military presence from Bahrain to “over the horizon” would be a clear signal that Arab dictatorship will no longer be tolerated, whether in Bahrain, Syria, Saudi Arabia, or elsewhere. The Formula One cars did eventually race in Bahrain, but calls for reform are rapidly becoming chants for regime change. Regime obfuscation will not be able to silence demands for justice and the right to live freely forever. – Financial Times
Yemen
Talks that looked set to secure the release of a Saudi Arabian diplomat kidnapped in Yemen broke off on Monday when the air force hit members of the militant group suspected of holding him, said a tribal leader involved in the negotiations. – Reuters
Iraq
Massud Barzani, the president of Iraq’s autonomous Kurdistan, said he opposes the sale of F-16 warplanes to Iraq while Nouri al-Maliki is premier, as he fears they would be used against the region. – AFP
Israel
Khader Adnan arrived home Wednesday after his detention without charge in an Israeli military prison, an early release he brokered by refusing food for 66 days and bringing himself to the brink of death. To many Palestinians, that made Adnan, an alleged activist of the militant group Islamic Jihad, a victor over the Israeli occupation, as well as inspiration: A half-dozen other Palestinian political prisoners are weeks into fasts of their own, and at least 1,200 more embarked on hunger strikes last week. – Washington Post
Turkey has blocked Israel’s attendance at a May NATO summit over its refusal to apologize for the deaths of nine Turks during a 2010 assault on a protest flotilla bound for Gaza, a Turkish official said April 23. – AFP
Israel’s energy sector will be hurt in the short term by Egypt’s decision to stop selling it natural gas, but the country has been weaning itself off the once-crucial supplies and has a number of contingency plans that will lessen the impact. – Reuters
Algeria
The party at the heart of power since Algeria’s independence from France is convulsed by an internal revolt that may be an early skirmish in the battle to succeed 75-year-old President Abdelaziz Bouteflika. – Reuters
Al Qaeda’s North Africa wing has called on Algerians to revolt against the ruling elite and boycott a parliamentary election next month, describing the vote as “plastic surgery”, in an audio message posted on the Internet. – Reuters
Afghanistan
A week after a complex insurgent attack paralyzed the capital, NATO commanders on Monday offered a startlingly buoyant assessment of security gains across the country and of the readiness of the Afghan police and the army to take full control of their country as American and other international forces leave. – New York Times
Maurice, who stands a little over five feet tall and favors shiny pink lip gloss, is one of the lowest-ranking and lowest-paid soldiers at this base in Wardak province, south of Kabul. Her life is a glimpse into the American-Afghan partnership at the bottom rungs of the U.S. military, where even the simplest acts of kindness do not easily translate across a wide linguistic and cultural divide. – Washington Post
The final version of a strategic partnership deal being drafted between the U.S. and Afghanistan will not include any funding guarantees for Afghan security forces, according to a Pentagon official. – DEFCON Hill
With the Taliban reeling, it is the Afghan government’s own corruption that is the biggest threat to US goals and the biggest reason to keep US advisors in place through 2014 and beyond. That’s the verdict of Marine Maj. Gen. John Toolan, who just finished a year commanding the international force called Regional Command Southwest, responsible for both Nimruz province and the former Taliban stronghold of Helmand. – AOL Defense
Restrictive ROE in Afghanistan have led to congressional inquiries and a move to create a special panel to decide whether a service member’s actions were justified. – Military Times
A top Republican on the House Foreign Affairs committee was asked by the Secretary of State and Secretary of Defense not to go to Afghanistan because President Hamid Karzai objected to the visit. – CNN’s Security Clearance
An already expensive war in Afghanistan will cost American taxpayers between $5 billion and $10 billion just to pull a decade’s worth of weapons, vehicles and supplies out of the country, The Washington Examiner has learned. – Washington Examiner
Editorial: Whatever its dimensions, a continued U.S. commitment to Afghanistan will be controversial. That’s why the most important follow-up to the new agreement must come from Mr. Obama. The president has not given a major speech about Afghanistan in more than a year and has not visited the country in 18 months. His actions will be important to reinforce the message, to both Afghans and Americans, of the bilateral accord: that he is firmly committed to Afghanistan’s future. – Washington Post
Zalmay Khalilzad writes: U.S. leverage in Afghanistan is likely to decline in the coming years — a reality that makes it critical for the US to take advantage of the strategic partnership agreement. The key challenge in the next year is working with the Afghan government on tackling corruption, integrating the Taliban, and reaching an understanding with Pakistan. After a decade-long military campaign, prudent diplomacy could allow the United States to wind down the mission with its core interests secured. – Foreign Policy
South Asia
The top commander of coalition forces in Afghanistan’s Helmand province said Monday that Pakistani troops have been no help in targeting insurgents hiding in safe havens in Pakistan. – Washington Times
U.S. troops have fired into Pakistani territory at least four times in the last 10 months in cross-border skirmishes that they say are in response to shelling from inside Pakistan, CNN has learned. – CNN
Stephen Yates and Christian Whiton write: Indians will increasingly judge Beijing by its actions rather than its words. They hold Washington to the same standard. Delhi has the means and motivation for a stronger diplomatic and military posture to deal with China. Other governments should too. – Wall Street Journal Asia (subscription required)
China
The former police chief in the Chinese city of Chongqing would appear, on the face of it, a good candidate to receive diplomatic protection or political asylum from the U.S., due to his access to senior Communist Party officials and intelligence. But to the Obama administration, which needed to decide Wang Lijun’s fate in early February due to his role in a widening political scandal inside China, the decision was murkier. – Wall Street Journal
When U.S. and Chinese officials sit down next week for their first high-level meeting in months, a number of difficult subjects will be on the table, from trade and currency disputes to human rights, cyber attacks, Syria and North Korea. But the issue that has both sides of the Pacific abuzz — China’s unfolding political scandal, in which the United States played a small, but critical role — is one neither side is likely to broach. – Washington Post
[N]ow, in the aftermath of Mr. Bo’s dismissal, on suspicions of corruption and accusations that his wife arranged the killing of a British business associate, there are mounting questions about whether Mr. Bo, who was most recently the party chief in the city of Chongqing and a member of the Politburo, used his enormous political clout to enrich himself and his closest relatives. – New York Times
The intersection of money and politics in China has rarely been so glaring as in the case of ousted Communist Party official Bo Xilai and his wife. – Los Angeles Times
When Chinese authorities launched an investigation in 2006 into potential foreign currency violations by Beijing Henderson Properties, the real estate developer called in some curious outside help. It turned to a Chinese investment company with no evident expertise in currency regulations and to a murky Hong Kong foundation with no discernible offices and no listed telephone number. – Washington Post
Defense officials will conduct a new round of informal but official nuclear weapons talks with China in the near future focusing on the “red lines” used by both sides in readying strategic forces in crises, according to U.S. officials. – Washington Free Beacon
Matthew Fishbane writes: Bo was undoubtedly ambitious, and in many ways he improved Chongqing…But he was too carelessly open about his willingness to use the brutal, secretive tactics of his criminal targets to accomplish his goals. – Foreign Policy
Koreas
The Obama administration formally raised its concerns with China about Beijing’s allegedly lax enforcement of sanctions on North Korea and, in particular, the continuing transfer of military hardware to the communist state. – Wall Street Journal (subscription required)
North Korea issued an ominous new threat Monday in its campaign against South Korean President Lee Myung-bak, vowing to carry out a special military attack that would reduce parts of Seoul to ash “in three or four minutes … by unprecedented peculiar means and methods of our own style.” – Washington Post
North Korea has almost completed preparations for a third nuclear test, a senior source with close ties to Pyongyang and Beijing told Reuters, which will draw further international condemnation following a failed rocket launch if it goes ahead. – Reuters
A Chinese firm that intelligence agencies believe provided North Korea with the body of an off-road transport vehicle used to carry missiles appears to have a press release on its website that boasts about the sale, U.N. diplomats told Reuters. – Reuters
Japan
Tokyo Governor Shintaro Ishihara looks like he may be stirring the pot again in the territorial dispute between China and Japan over the Senkaku islands. – WSJ’s Japan Real Time
Burma
The European Union agreed Monday to suspend nearly all of its punitive sanctions against Myanmar even as a political dispute over the wording of a clause in the country’s Constitution kept Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, the leader of the opposition, from attending her first day in Parliament. – New York Times
After years of imprisonment and detention, Gambira– once a prominent dissident Buddhist monk in Myanmar – has disrobed and is now a civilian. – WSJ’s Southeast Asia Real Time
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon announced on Monday he would visit Myanmar soon to encourage the Southeast Asian nation to press ahead with democratic reforms. – Reuters
Myanmar’s ruling, army-backed party on Monday rejected demands of Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi to change parliament’s oath of office, the first clear sign of friction since the democracy leader’s party swept historic by-elections. – Reuters
Editorial: If the NLD plays its cards right, it could turn its presence in parliament into a bully pulpit to hold the government accountable and set the stage for capturing a more substantial block of seats in the next general election. But while it has such a tenuous minority, it can’t afford the politics of symbolic grand gestures. – Wall Street Journal Asia (subscription required)
Southeast Asia
Philippine President Benigno Aquino warned his country’s neighbors on April 23 that they should fear Beijing’s growing aggressiveness over its claims in the South China Sea. – AFP
A natural gas discovery in a disputed area in the South China Sea contains more reserves than initially thought, a Philippine exploration firm said on Tuesday, with the new findings likely to further intensify territorial tensions between Beijing and Manila. – Reuters
Thousands of riot police overwhelmed villagers in Vietnam who tried to block them from taking control of a disputed plot of land outside Hanoi on Tuesday in the second high-profile clash over property so far this year. – Reuters
Russia
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev on Monday pardoned a man accused of head-butting a police officer during an anti-Kremlin demonstration, but left uncertain the fates of 31 other prisoners championed by the opposition as he prepares to leave office. – Wall Street Journal (subscription required)
[Oleg] Shein’s transformation from diehard Communist to darling of the democratic movement illustrates the degree to which the Russia’s opposition has sought to reconcile disparate elements as it forges a broad-based coalition against the rule of Prime Minister and President-elect Vladimir Putin. – Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
A spokesman for Russian President-elect Vladimir Putin says Putin sees little scope for cooperation with the leaders of opposition protests because they lack ideas and many are uncharismatic “zeroes.” – Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
Proposed U.S. legislation to punish Russian officials involved in human rights abuses could have “a significant negative impact” on U.S.-Russian relations, Moscow’s envoy to the United States warned on Monday – Reuters
A Russian politician whose hunger strike drew attention to allegations of electoral fraud in a mayoral vote announced plans on Monday to end his protest on its 40th day, saying he had achieved his goals. – Reuters
Netherlands
The Dutch prime minister, Mark Rutte, announced the resignation of his coalition government on Monday after its partners failed to agree on austerity measures, leaving the Netherlands with a messy leadership vacuum at a time of anxiety about the euro. – New York Times
Czech Republic
The Czech centre-right government has most likely secured the votes needed for a parliamentary majority that will paper over a split in the ruling coalition that threatened to trigger an early election, Prime Minister Petr Necas said on Monday. – Reuters
Ukraine
Ukraine’s two leading opposition parties said Monday they were uniting for parliamentary elections in October to challenge President Viktor Yanukovych’s grip on power. – Wall Street Journal (subscription required)
United States of America
As the Republican candidate transitions from the long primary slog into the general election battle, his effort to cut down Obama on foreign policy and national security will sharpen. Naivety, appeasement, apologist and a menu of other unflattering descriptions are likely to be emanating from Romney’s attack machine trying to cut down the president’s perceived advantage on foreign policy. – CNN’s Security Clearance
After holding its nose and going blue for two straight election cycles, the defense industry is returning to familiar territory, tacking hard right in its political giving in 2012. – Politico
Mexico
A four-decade tidal wave of Mexican immigration to the United States has receded, causing a historic shift in migration patterns as more Mexicans appear to be leaving the United States for Mexico than the other way around, according to a report from the Pew Hispanic Center. – Washington Post
South America
With public opinion in Argentina firmly behind President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner’s plan to nationalize the country’s largest oil company, Congress is expected this week to approve the takeover despite some analysts’ warnings that her policies are economically reckless. – Los Angeles Times
For more than a week, as he has undergone radiation therapy, the only public signs of the usually highly visible president were a series of messages on his official Twitter account. That led to a flurry of Internet rumors that he was dead or dying, many of them spread avidly by his critics on Twitter. – New York Times
After 10 days out of sight and with rumors swirling that he had died while undergoing cancer treatment in Cuba, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez made a half-hour telephone call to a state-run television station, claiming reports of his demise were part of a “dirty war.” – LA Times’ World Now
West Africa
Analysis: Within weeks, Mali has plunged from being a sovereign democracy to a fractured territory without a state, occupied by competing rebel groups in the north while politicians and coup leaders in the south jostle for control of the capital Bamako. – Reuters
East Africa
Sudan attacked South Sudan with warplanes and ground troops, South Sudan said on Monday, only days after Sudan announced that its military had forced the South’s forces out of a contested oil-rich region. – New York Times
The Obama administration on Monday condemned a Sudanese military incursion into South Sudan and called for the withdrawal of all northern militia from the south. – Washington Times
Uganda’s parliament is aiming to limit the presidency to two five-year terms in a move widely seen as a rebuke of President Yoweri Museveni’s longtime rule over this East African nation. – Washington Times
The 100 U.S. military advisers deployed to Uganda to help track down African warlord Joseph Kony will continue their mission, President Obama announced Monday. – DEFCON Hill
